McBride, 56, who said he hadn't prepared an acceptance speech because he didn't expect to win against the likes of Pynchon, Lahiri and Saunders, said, "They are fine writers. But it sure is nice to be here."
The annual awards, presented by the National Book Foundation, honour American authors for published works over the past year in fiction, nonfiction, poetry and young people's literature.
The nonfiction award was won by George Packer for "The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America". The poetry award went to Mary Szybist for "Incarnadine". The young people's literature award was won by Cynthia Kadohata for "The Thing About Luck."
London-born daughter of immigrants from West Bengal, 46-year-old Lahiri, who lives in New York's Brooklyn last month lost out on the prestigious Man Booker Prize for contemporary fiction writers from the Commonwealth and Ireland.
